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The Ukrainian port city of Odesa is known as the “Pearl of the Black Sea” for its urban planning and architectural aesthetic. It also has a rich tradition of humor, culture and music, which Kommuna Lux, an Odesa-based folk group, is all set to bring to Palo Alto. The band will kick off its West Coast charity tour with a concert at Oshman Family JCC on Sept. 26 before proceeding to other cities across and beyond California.
“We go step by step and we have enough experience to understand that people in your city (Palo Alto) are very open, we feel very comfortable, there are only pleasant feelings,” said clarinetist Volodymyr “Vova” Gitin, who is also the band’s musical director, in an interview with this publication. “We’ll see what will happen; I think everything will be good.”
Through music, they hope to raise funds for humanitarian efforts in Ukraine, an initiative that began in 2022 after the Russian invasion.
Their music is a blend of traditional Ukrainian folk, Klezmer, big band and Odesa coastal sounds. “There are very different styles of music inside our style because our musicians have a lot of experience in different kinds of music,” said Gitin, who is accompanied by vocalist Bagrat Tsurkan, accordionist Oleg Vasianovich, trumpeter Andrei Okhramovich, trombonist Yaroslav Besh, guitarist Viktor Kirilov and percussionist Sergei Poltorak. “It is a mix of a lot of different styles but exactly in the way of Ukrainian and Odesa folk music.”
Gitin is confident that people who aren’t familiar with this genre of music will also find it interesting. “You don’t need to know these styles to enjoy it,” he said. “If people want to listen to something special, they can come and they will get it.”
When it was founded in 2014, the band was called “Dengi Vpered” which translates to “cash in advance.” Then in 2021, the name was changed to Kommuna Lux which alludes to “the joy of community.”
After 2022, of course, joy became a casualty of the war. The band faced the music too. “When the war started, it was a big question for everybody — what is life for? What can we do best in this situation? So it was time to think a lot,” Gitin said.
But soon enough, they discovered a way to help people with their music. They have since been raising funds through their philanthropic agency KMLX and have also partnered with the Rotary Club of Kyiv. On their North American summer tour, they have managed to raise $11,000 in donations.
How did they reconcile the bleakness of reality with the vibrancy of their music? “Yes, it was a question for us — of whether it works this way. But we understood that it was not a problem at all, that we can continue to play our music for the people; it was something that they needed. We understood that we don’t need to play sad music because of the war. Our mission was to raise the spirits of our people; that became our main philosophy,” Gitin said. “Even when we performed for our soldiers on the frontlines, they asked us to play such music. It’s something that helped them in their situation — to be more brave, to be more together, to have some humor, to listen to music that makes them feel better.”
He credits band manager Victor Lykhodko for working out a way for them to tour overseas despite the circumstances. “He created possibilities for us to go abroad and represent our country, our culture and to raise funds,” he said. They began by performing in Europe. “It happened in a very special way because the attention to us as a group from Ukraine was more than we expected.”
“Two of our ex band members are serving in the army right now, on the frontlines; we are trying to help them also,” said Lykhodko. “Since the war started, it was not just about art and music, it became about our goals, about what we can achieve; we’re doing our best.”
Kommuna Lux will perform at the Albert & Janet Schultz Cultural Arts Hall at Oshman JCC, located at 3921 Fabian Way Palo Alto, on Thursday, Sept. 26, 7-8:30 p.m. For tickets and information visit KommunaLux.com or paloaltojcc.org.
